So, it is definitely a no-go for your root vegetables this year, fantasia? No recovery? That broken pot/fairy look is adorable!

This summer has been so rainy that much is flourishing, but some plants do not like this much precipitation. It seems cucumbers fall into that category. The plants started out really well, but as the rain continued to fall, almost daily at times, they must have become oversaturated, so . Other folk in our area have had the same problem.

My carrots are still quite small, but so tasty. However, I'm not digging them up yet, as I'd like them a bit longer than 3". Boy, are they good, though! Really earthy and carrot-y.

My tomatoes are taking their sweet time. I see the Brandywines are full and ripening, hurrah! My grape tomato plant became overgrown, amongst other issues. I don't think I'm going to get much from it. The Romas are tasty, but not plentiful.

I picked a very large bowl of yellow and green beans in the cool of last evening. Mmmm! They're a bit overripe, but it's been too wet and too mosquito-y to even venture out there lately.

This is our first year having the garden, so we're still experimenting as to where is best, and if we are leaving it where it is, we need to further clear out around it for more air movement and sunlight. We have a few ideas to implement next year, and will think on these more.

I may have had a bad year with gardening this year, but my mother-in-law didn't. She had baskets (literally) of extra Juliet tomatoes. Yesterday my parents and I canned 7 quarts and 5 pints of tomatoes. It's great to have all of those taken care of and for use over the winter.

I still have a few additional tomatoes and peppers to deal with before the cold gets here.

It seems so weird to be talking about that in early September, but boy has Fall arrived early this year.

This year was a bad year for gardening, it took so long for all the snow and rain to stop, and then it heated up fast and we had a bad fire season this year(terribly smoky air for weeks). Only good news is that our asparagus is still alive. I thought it was dead, but it isn't. And I got a pay raise this year, so the plants/seeds I've wanted for years I can finally buy for next spring. Can't wait!

January is a good month for looking through seed catalogs and planning the garden, which right now is covered with a blanket of snow. I used to try to plant something new each year, but I must confess my strategy now is how can I make gardening easier each year! My age is catching up with me.

*waves hi to Grandmama* Gazer has mentioned in this thread what avid gardners your family is. I hope you continue to post here and share all Your tips.

My seeds are arriving fast and furious. I'm sure I overdid it big time as I have the past several years, but the thought is that as I don't have any newborn babies this year (just a 9 month old right now), it should be easier to manage gardening....maybe.

I don't plan to put much in my backyard in terms of vegetables this year. Last year, as I posted, I had a lot of trouble with my veggies, so I plan to do the vast majority of the gardening at my in-law's farm. I'll still have a couple tomatoes, onions, and a pepper here because that's what I use the most. Oh, and a green bean or two because my son wanted to plant that But everything else will be an hour away. I hope to head that way at least once a week and spend at least an hour or two pulling weeds and watering, and I think that will be good enough. I guess we'll see.

I can't remember if I mentioned this here or not, and I'm too lazy to go back and look, but my sister sold me a landscaping plan for an unused area behind my house. Last year I put in two of the bushes, a Gulf Stream Nandina and a Rose Creek Abelia, and I expanded my strawberry patch. This year I ordered 5 Bonfire Euphorbia, 3 Arkansas Bluestar, 3 All Gold Japanese Forest Grass, and 2 Honeyberry bushes. The idea was to make this a Fairy Garden, and I plan to expand on it every year until the area is filled up. Of course, I can't afford everything she put in all at once unfortunately, but some of the plants are rather exotic and I really hope to finish it someday. Part of the plan included hiding the ugly utility boxes. Originally I was going to put a couple bushes there, but that's not going to work because the lines run right underneath the ground so I can't plant anything there. I had the idea of putting in a large chunk of hedge tree and putting decorative birdhouses all over it. Maybe even including some stair steps? Definitely less cool than Lothlorien in LotR, but loosely inspired by that.

*Waves back to Fantasia Kitty*Do you start plants under lights in the house? I like to for tomatoes and peppers and, since I grow a lot of both, it does save money. Of course, you do have to have space and lights. My tomatoes always look more leggy than the ones from a nursery, but once they're out in the garden, it doesn't seem to matter. I have been scouring Pinterest for ways to get all the plants I start indoors outdoors sooner so that they are getting sunlight and so that they don't take so much space in the house.

I would love to see pictures of your Fairy Garden. I'm much more proficient at vegetable gardening than I am at landscaping.

No, I started them in our basement window well. But now that it's so nice outside I've been taking them out to our greenhouse.

The first couple years I started seeds, I must have been really lucky by doing everything right by chance. The past few years I've had trouble with my seedlings sprouting and immediately becoming very long and gangly, particularly the tomatoes. I finally was smart enough to google the other day and it said that happens when there's a lack of light. That makes sense because our world was iced over last week and I couldn't have them outside. Hopefully it's not too late for them already. I think the tomatoes that came up a few days later and will do well. The peppers should be ok too.

My flowers and celery have also sprouted and look healthy.

As a side note, my husband and I went on an adventure through his tree rows at the farm and found this nice, very large, gnarly tree branch for the backyard. I may need to cut it back though because I don't see how I'm going to get it to stand up safely as I'm unable to put it down into the ground at all.

I'm jealous of your greenhouse! And that you're farther south so that Spring comes quicker. Most of the time, I like Minnesota just fine, but I grew up in Iowa and still think Spring should arrive in March, not the end of April!

I'm glad you posted about your tomatoes, because, even though I don't start them until March, it is almost March and I haven't ordered seeds yet. Too busy watching the Winter Olympics and sewing. Time to switch gears and think about gardening.

The first time I grew celery, it wasn't too difficult to grow, but it certainly didn't grow to the size of what you'd get in the grocery store. It was maybe 1/4" - 1/2" across? But the flavor was unbelievable so I thought I'd give it another go this year.

Other than letting my tomatoes get way, way too long when they first sprouted, I think everything is looking good this year so far. They're all green and happy. I think I've mentioned before that peppers like to be dryer and tomatoes like to be wet, so since I have figured that out, I've kept everything in different trays to help control moisture and that seems to have helped.

Today I got quite sweaty and dirty cleaning up the "plant nursery" part of the basement. Since it only gets used as a plant nursery for a few months of the year, it tends to get cluttered up with stuff the rest of the year. I also went thru my seed box and found seeds as old as 2008. I guess I haven't cleaned that out for awhile either.

The table is now cleared off and I'm ready to start my peppers! I'm holding myself in check and not starting too many because we are rebuilding our raised beds and I won't have as much space as in the past. The new beds will hopefully be better designed now that we've had experience with the old ones for close to 20 years, but there will be fewer of them. The family is shrinking and so is my energy level for gardening!

Yesterday I spent time looking through seed catalogs. Burpee (my go-to in the past) has the nicest catalog--lots of big color photos, but the prices reflect the nice catalog. I took a chance and ordered some seeds from a new place, Seeds 'n Such, since their prices were much better. Their catalog isn't impressive, but the website is quite nice. I also ordered some stuff from Gurneys, which had a $25 off a $50 order, but then you pay $13 in shipping.

After placing my orders, I'm so ready to start working in the garden! Unfortunately, it's still covered with snow. I hope we actually have Spring this year. The last couple of years we've had a really late Spring and some of the early perennials never bloomed.

@Grandmama, I haven't purchased much from Burpee in recent years as I find them to be a bit on the pricey side. My favorites include Totally Tomatoes, Botanical Interests, R. H. Shumway, and my favorite, Territorial Seed Company. All would be happy to send you a free catalog if you want to sign up for one.

SOOOOOO.... I repotted my tomatoes this week as they were out of control. I ended up with 67 pots!!!!!! And I hate to admit this but a small handful of those had to be doubled up because I ran out of peat pots and I didn't want to go buy more. I have probably 75ish tomato plants. Anyone want a tomato plant?

This week is spring break for my son, and I was hoping to take the time to get up to the in-law's farm to borrow their tiller. But we've been so busy, we haven't had a chance yet! Hoping to grab it tomorrow, till really fast, and then return it on Saturday when we're up there anyways for a b-day party. I'd just grab it on Saturday in the first place except we're expecting a fair bit of rain early next week and I want to get the garden tilled before then. After that I can start plugging my onions in, which arrived last week. Also need my potatoes to arrive. Can't believe they're not here yet.

That's a lot of tomato plants, fantasia kitty! You must have a huge garden.

Up here in the far north, I just started my tomatoes today. The peppers that I started 2 weeks ago are up and flourishing--yay! I also started several flower seeds on Saturday. I've had mixed success with starting flowers (annuals) in the past, so time will tell if they sprout or not.

Ok. So for fathers day this year (I am getting it early) we are making above ground garden beds. I plan to plant green peppers, jalapenos, several types of tomatoes, peas, cucumbers and sweet potatos. I am also getting a black berry bush and mint, and rhubarb. I am very excited and hope it all grows!!! I will let you all know!

I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun: not only because I see it, but by it I see everything else. -C.S. Lewis

Well, the snow was almost gone and I have some little lettuce plants growing in a pot on the deck (winter sowing), but they are now inside since not only has it been snowing the past 3 days, the lows overnight have been way too low! I'm very disappointed to start April with snow.

I've started eggplant seeds today, in a few of the peat pots I got from my sister for Christmas. End of this week I'll be starting seeds for brussel sprouts, beets, salad greens, broccoli, snapdragons, herbs(sage and thyme), and ground cherries.